Apparatus for electroplating sound-records.



N0.758,352. r PATENTED APR. 26, 1904.

G. K. GHENBY..

APPARATUS FOR ELEGTROPLATING SOUND RECORDS.

v APPLICATION rum: Jung s, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

INVENTOR I a WITNESSES-s f v v j a c E I I V v m: noun 5 PLYlfiS u vuom mun mums-row o c ATTORNEY Patented April 26, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIc GEORGE K. CHENEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS- FOR E L EC TROPLATING SQUND REOOFlDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 758,352, dated April 26, 1904.

T0 (LZZ whom it vita/y concern.-

Be itknown that I, GEORGE K. CHENEY, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for, Electroplating Sound-Records, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates generallyto electroplating apparatus, and more particularly to means for supporting articles to be plated in circuit in an electrolytic bath.

The invention as herein embodied is designed specially for use in connection with sound-record disks, the object being to prodiiceacase or holder by which such disks may be supported through peripheral contact only and the record-surface thereby fully exposed to the electrolytic action and protected at the same time from accidental blows or mutilation. These disks are usually made of soft wax, and every possible precaution must therefore be taken in order to protect the record-surface, as the slightest blow will ofttimes render a record worthless, and in addition to the financial loss there is frequently more or less delay experienced in securing the attendance of vocalists, musicians, &c.,'to repeat a song, musical composition, or the like. In producing such a protecting-support by which arecorddisk may be suspended in circuit in an elec-' trolytic bath I em ploy an annular case of non conducting material having a tapered bore to receive the record-disk, which by slight pressure is frictionally secured therein. is so relatively proportioned to the disk as to provide a protecting-flange extending beyond both faces thereof, which permits it on re moval from the tank or when not in circuit to be placed either face down upon a table, bench, or the like Without endangering the record surface. The case may be suspended in the tank in any suitable or well-known manner. For this purpose it is preferably provided with integral apertured lugs engaged by S-hooks depending from the circuit wire or bar, and thus arranged the entire weight of the record-tablet is sustained by the case.

One form of device suitable for carrying my invention into eflect is illustrated in'the The case 7 Application filed ll'une 6, 1903. serial No. 180.435. (N0 model.)

accompanying sheet of drawings, throughout sents a tank such as is ordinarily employed to contain a copper-sulfate or blue-stone solution, and 22 indicate rods or bars connected in circuit with a generator or other source of electrlclty. The rods extend across the tank above the liquid and serve as supports from which the articles to be plated may be suspended and through contact therewith at the .same time connected in circuit in a manner well known in the art.

The case 3, in which the record-tablet 4 is I supported, is formed of any suitable non-conducting materialsuch, for example, as the composition employed in making commercial records of the present day, and these cases may be produced in any desired number at a comparatively low cost by being stamped or pressed up or molded. The case is preferably in the form of a flat ring tapered interiorly, as indicated at 5, to facilitate fitting the record snugly therein, and its depth exceeds the thickness of the tablet sufliciently to provide a protecting rim or flange on each side thereof, which permits the same to be placed either face down upon a table or other support without contact between such support and the record-surface. The case is suspended in the tank by means of Sshaped hooks 6 6, depending from one of the bars or rods 2, which engage apertured lugs 7 7, integral with or secured to the case.

The record-surface of the tablet is usually black-leaded or coated with a film of any suit able solution to provide a conducting-surface on which the metal will deposit. The surface thus prepared is connected in circuit with the rod or bar 2 by a thin strip of sheetcopper 8, one end of which is electrically con nected in any suitable manner with the leaded surface of the record-tablet and the opposite end is bent around the bar and secured by an ordinary clothes-pin 9.

The method of operation, advantages, 620., Will be generally understood from the foregoing description, and it Will therefore not be necessary for me to further describe the same.

I do not Wish to be understood as limiting myself to the exact details of construction herein shown and described, as various changes may be made Without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. For example, the form of the case, both in outline and cross-section, might be altered, or the case might be made up of separable sections uniting to form aring, as described, Which instead of engaging the tablet throughout its entire circumference might be constructed to engage at tWo or more points. Other means for suspending the case might be employed as a substitute for the S-shaped hooks, and the same is true of the copper strip, Which is employed to electrically connect the recordsurface of the tablet With the circuit bar or rod. All such changes, however, I consider obvious and immaterial variations of form and not of substance and still Within the meaning of the present invention.

Having therefore described my invention, I claim 1. In electroplating apparatus for disk-records, the combination of the solution-tank, a

disk-record, an annulus of non-cond ucting material having 'a tapered bore in Which the diskrecord is frictionally secured peripherally only, an electric circuit including the recorddisk and means for suspending the annulus in the tank.

2. In electroplating apparatus, the combination of the solution-tank having circuit-rods extending across the same above the surface of the liquid, a disk-record, an annulus of non-conducting material having a tapered bore to receive the record-tablet and frictionally secure the same at points throughout its circumference, means for suspending the annulus in the solution and an electrical connection from the circuit-bar to the record-tablet.

3. In electroplating apparatus, the combination of the solution-tank having circuit-rods extending across the same above the surface of the liquid, a disk-record, an annulus of non-conducting material having a tapered bore to receive the record-tablet and frictionally secure the same throughout its circumference, S-hooks for suspending the annulus from the circuit-bar, and an electrical connection from said bar to the record-tablet.

Signed at New York, N. Y., this 4th day of June, 1903.

GEORGE K. CHENEY. Witnesses:

J. E. PEARsoN, W. H. PUMPHREY. 

